When seating the bottom RAM chip you may have to apply a little extra side force to get it to seat properly. I put in the new RAM and just got a beeping sound upon starting. I then put the old RAM back in and got the same result.

Here is the solution I found on the Apple discussion board.

"Take a small flat head screwdriver and after you put the memory in slot 0, put the screwdriver between the top of the mac mini and the memory then turn the screwdriver a little to exert pressure on the memory into the slot. Do it on both sides of the memory."

I remember this when I was changing my memory ... I realized (after opening) that more you push, more force it take to open the cover. As you push down you force the cover "to rub" the casing and possibly other things inside. If you "lightly" hold the cover it comes right off ... Remember: less is more! :-)

We found it hard to use the thumbs but if you put the casing on a carpet and one person is holding the case while the other is using his palm of one hand to turn the cover it comes off quite smoothly and without much downward pressure.

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I have a late 2012 Mac mini, but it must be an earlier version than this late 2012 Mac mini in this description, because removing the hard drive is much more complicated than described here. Please see this YouTube video if you have trouble removing your hard drive with these directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... There is a longer process you've got to go through. It can be done, it just takes much longer. (3-4 hours for me)

This applied to me as well. The iFixit article was good and lots of helpful information in the comments but my mini was different and required more dismantling. The video sandyfacebook posted was very helpful in taking me the rest of the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP...

You actually don't need to disconnect the fan. You can just let it hang on the side while working. I accidentally killed my connector trying to pry it loose. It's being held together now by some tape, after spending hours trying to reconnect it and figuring out pin outs.

110% agreed: you don’t have to remove the fan. Those wires are delicate, as is the connector. Just move it off to the side. Do the same for the antenna plate. The fewer connectors you touch, the fewer things you break!

Be careful to LIFT UP on the fan connector cable. Using a spudger tool helps here. I mistakenly thought that the connector would slide off the logic board and tried to remove the connector this way. I ended up lifting the connector off of the logic board, thus ruining my logic board and requiring a $350 logic board replacement at the genius bar. The second time I did a HD/SSD replacement, everything worked fine.

Yeah, I did the same thing by following someone elses "shortcut". Now I am going to shell out 289 for quad core i5 board, and a new fan BTW. . . . . . Oh well never a dull moment :) and it gets an upgrade as well!

That's probably the must tricky part of the replacement. I did the same thing, i just pull on my cables and the connector stays on the board. Tried many times to switch cables into but any order i try is not the good one.

The avoid this, now, when i want to pull out my fan, i just use a plate screwdriver and lift up the connector. That's work perfectly.

I screwed it too... Not reading carefully enough, I accidentally removed the whole socket from the board. This happened with the IR connector too. When re-assembling the parts, the socket wouldn't stick to the board, now I know why. I don't want to buy a new logic board, because I can't afford one, so I'm trying to find someone to solder it. Seems hard to find someone able to repair logic boards these days. Hope I'll be successful, otherwise this is an expensive upgrade to my mac...

Followed all the instructions, everything went well, but now my mini fan won't turn off. It starts as soon as I boot up. I've tried every fan control software out there, and nothing works; the fan just constantly runs. I was very careful when I disconnected/reconnected the fan cable, and it looks fine. What else can I do?

The problem is most likely a disconnected or damaged temperature sensor, I had this problem when reassembling a 2007 Mac mini. It can't read the temperature, so assumes the worst and sets the fan to maximum.

I removed the fan and everything worked fine, but it’s good to know that it’s a “push-down“ connector, took me some time to relize that, all I needed to do was to press down the connector over the pins, see the picture for more details.

The cowling has a notch close to the midpoint of the flange that goes under the outer case, which slides onto a standoff screw attached to the logic board. I used a Sharpie marker to put one "alignment mark" on the inner edge of the outer case. I put another alignment mark from the midpoint of the cowling notch out onto the visible part of the cowling. This made it much easer to reassemble, especially since my standoff post provided a tight fit, which, when I did this the first time, felt like "it doesn't fit . . . again?" It also helped to insert the end of the cowling closest to the heat sink first, which acted as a "fulcrum" for the cowling to "click" onto the standoff post.

On reassembly, if you're having trouble lining up the cowling with the screw holes, you can try pulling the logic board out a tad and set the cowling in place. Just try not to damage the cowling or the inside of the outer case when sliding it back in!

It can be difficult to get the hard drive seated correctly such that the antenna plate fits in place correctly. If the screw holes don't line up with those on the hard drive, make sure that the two pins that are in the back of the hard drive are properly seated in the holes at the back of the case, above the housing for the second hard drive.

The antenna attaches directly to the hard drive (red markers), therefore attaching the antenna can move the hard drive around and loosen the connection of the hard drive cable to the logic board.

When reassembling this aerial plate, it may take a very strong force to align the side lips with the screw bays. The circular edge on the body is meant to slot into the plate by less than 1mm. I followed the rule of thumb, which is, if it takes an unusual force, stop and think it out to avoid a disaster! Then, I hit on using a paper clip to get around this problem. Make a paper clip L-shaped to loop through a hole close to the edge of the plate, where the slotting is not deep enough. Gently lifting the paper clip, slide and push the aerial plate in place. This worked like a charm without using a strong force.

@Al Dente’s approach worked for me, but at first I didn’t understand what he meant. Basically the antenna mesh has a tongue and grove relationship with the mac mini shell; it is hard to see, but along the curved edge has a concave grove which needs to be widened. You can widen this concave grove with a paper clip and then it will fit perfectly.

DO NOT BRUTE FORCE the reinstallation of the plate. In my case, the top lip of the antenna plate has a notch which aligns with the edge of the opening was preventing the perfect fit. All I did in my case was use the spudger to pry open the notch a little more to give me a little bit extra space so that edge of the aluminum enclosure fits into that notch on the top of the antenna plate. Hope that helps. :)

I was installing an SSD in my mini and when I got to this step, an issue came up. The two 6.6mm screws on the antenna plate screw into one side of, and secure, the hard drive. The problem was the SSD was thinner than the original hard drive, so when I tried to reassemble, the hard drive sat too low for the screws to reach it.

Here's how I got around the problem. I loosely attached the antenna plate to the hard drive, leaving plenty of wiggle room between the plate and the drive. I also left the two stand off screws on the logic board off to give me more wiggle room there.

With the SSD attached to the antenna plate, I carefully connected and stowed the Bluetooth cable. Using the antenna plate as a handle, I was able to guide the SSD into the hard drive mount. Once in place, I tightened the 6.6mm screws more, which raised the SSD to the proper level.

After insuring that the screws all lined up, I installed and tightened the logic board, then the other antenna plate screws.

After trying these suggestions with a thinner SSD and couldn't get anywhere I used a bent paper clip, L-shaped, to act as a hook. One end I was able to simply hook under the drive and pull it up to install that ends screw loosely. The opposite end I inserted the paper clip through the antenna grate, again pulled up on the drive, installed the screw and carefully pulled the paper clip out.

The "engineering tolerances" are definitely tight for the AirPort antenna plate. I would recommend trying to replace it as soon as it's removed for the first time, in order to work out the (precise) alignment of it.

Nothing I tried (including the suggestions here) seemed to help me during reassembly. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the holes for the two 5.0mm T8 screws to line up. Eventually, I had to resort to CAREFULLY and SLIGHTLY re-bending the curved edge of the antenna plate.

The tiny perforations on the grate rest ON TOP of the lip of the case, while the remainder of the grate slides UNDER the lip. It is very hard to see - I used a magnifying glass.

To get it into place, create a tiny hook on the end of a paperclip. Moving along the edge of the grate, lift a perforation with the hook to help it slip into place. Keep moving along the edge until entire grate is shifted into place.

I had several 2-terminal connectors that went to what appeared to be temperature sensors on several components including the hard disk and optical drive. I accidentally pulled the wires out of one of these connectors. Lucky for me, they came out clean and I was able to just re-insert them into the connector

As everyone else has noted during re-assembly, seating the antenna plate is tricky. For me, what ended up working was to attach the hard drive screws first. After this, with just a little wiggling of the plate, the 2 5mm screw holes lined up perfectly.

Aligning the drive holes with the ones on the antenna grate was easy – just take the pointy end of the spudger. Also, for getting the circular part of the grate set correctly, I had to bend down the outermost part a tiny little bit and then used curved tweezers to lift the grate once it was near its final position to get it slide in the last millimeter. Frustrating at first, but it worked after a few tries.

Has anyone had any trouble getting the two 5.0mm screws back in place? I can't seem to get them in, as they just keep on turning. I thought the thread may have been damaged but I then removed the plate and could screw them in position okay. It seems the depth of the plate is causing the screws to not go down far enough. I've had to leave these off at the moment (obviously not great as this means the bottom cover is loose. Any ideas?

I had the same problem but only on one of the two screws. Then I realized there's a little tiny "o-ring" underneath which is acting like a nut. I lost one of them in the process of upgrading. If I could find out where to buy a new one I would!

The antenna plate seems to give most people problems. Somewhere along the line I found reference to "a wiggle here and a wiggle there" and that seemed to work. Shy away from the brute force - it's the surest way to damage something.

Despite all the efforts, I couldn't manage to insert both side screws for the antenna plate. I ended up only using a single one (the one nearest to the HD connector), hoping it will hold the weight of the SSD.

Same issue with that antenna plate - take a look at it from the side and you will see the incredibly tight gap which the lip of the case needs to slot into. I assumed it simply butted up against the case, but no.

I used a big paper clip as suggested here, putting in one screw and then lifting through the perforations while applying a little pressure to the plate. Turned out there was one point misaligned and after a few tries it popped back in.

The thickness of your hard drive or SSD plays a part here, I think. With a thicker SSD (Crucial M4) in the upper slot I found the antenna plate very hard to re-install. After replacing this with a Samsung Evo 850 it was much easier, I think because the lower drive has more room to breathe. With the thinner SSD I didn't have to remove the power supply, either – a major plus.

For those having trouble reinstalling the Aerial Plate, it is probably a matter of alignment. The recessed edge of the plate slides all the way up under the lip edge of the case. I used my iFixit bent tweezers spread and inserted through a couple holes to lightly pull up on the grate while pushing on the flat edge. No hard force was required. It just snapped right in. You'll know when it is home because it will be a snug fit to the edge of the case inside the arc of the opening.

I would also add that during the reassembly process, make sure the drive stays firmly seated in the grommets. There's a tendency for it to come out or partially out. I kept nudging on it to make sure it was fully seated. Then the antenna screws line up nicely. Some of the problems I read about getting the screws in I suspect arise form the hard drive not being fully seated.

Al Dente and Chris1000 provided the key for me. I used the logic board tool to help lift the cutout sections into place on the top part. Once I did that I slid in to place so easily I almost pulled it out of place trying to adjust it.

Hilariously, I was trying all the tricks, with the paper clip, and putting the drive screws in first, nothing working for me to get the case screw holes aligned. I ended up saying “one screw might just have to do it”, so I put the first case screw in, then I tried putting the second one in from an angle into the misaligned hole, and screwing it in, and that caused the plate to pop into place!

What finally helped me was to check things one at a time. To check the tongue-and-groove fit, I installed the antenna plate by itself, with the hard drive removed. I used a spudger to pry open the groove on the antenna plate, since I had closed it a bit by forcing things. After the antenna plate was going in by itself, I focussed on the hard drive. At first, I was pre-attaching the hard drive to the antenna plate, but this makes it hard to see if the hard drive is going in as far as it should. Getting the two protruding screws on the hard drive into their holes is tricky (I found turning the Mini upside down to use gravity helped), but for me it was some wires at the side of the hard drive space that were getting under the drive and making it sit up high that was the problem. Once I got the hard drive in, and then the antenna plate, I could get the last two screws which hold the drive to the plate to catch by turning the Mini upside down and tapping it on top to bring the hard drive close to the plate.

I used a big paper clip as suggested here, putting in one screw and then lifting through the perforations while applying a little pressure to the plate. Turned out there was one point misaligned and after a few tries it popped back in. Download this app Hotstar APP for PC

The top curved part of the antenna plate has a thin lip on the bottom edge, but is very flexible. During reassembly when sliding the antenna plate back into position, if the 4 holes do not exactly line up, then try bending that lip downward a bit and the antenna plate should then line up perfectly.

Actually, curved edge of antenna has a groove into which an edge of aluminium body should slide in. In my case a vary slight lift by putting tip of tweezers into one of the antenna top holes made a good help - antenna popped into correct position.

Absolutely correct. Thanks. The wide-head screws holding in the antenna plate may be used on the upper side of the HD (SSD in my case) to help hold the side of the HD that slips under the case -up- so the two side mounting screws in the drive may be seated properly in the case. This is easier to do than to describe. (Others have noted this, as well and I followed the advice.)

I skipped steps 10 and 11 but had to do the rest to get the drive out. My system had a second drive so that may be why the logic board had to be removed to have enough room to get the drive out past the DIMM sockets.

On the Late 2012 model the antenna connector is hidden under the case, so unlike as indicated in step 10 you can not see the connector and definitely not remove it until the Logic Board has been eased out an inch. Note how the cable makes a loop under the case as it is removed. Remember to reconnect the same way with the loop and connected before the logic board is pushed in all the way.

If your machine came with a 7mm drive and you are replacing with a 7mm drive you do not need to move the logic board. I installed an Intel 335 240GB drive which is a 9.5mm drive and to get that drive in I did need to bump the logic board out to clear the memory slot brackets. I did not need to remote any other wires or connections as the logic board only needs to move maybe an 1/8" to get the drive to clear the memory bracket.

When removing the wifi antenna make sure you use a plastic spudger and lever up underneath the wire. I used a metal screwdriver and levered up from the side opposite the wire and ripped the pico-ITX connector right off the board! Fortunately I only use my mini via Ethernet, but now I have no choice!

I have a late 2012 Mac mini, but it must be an earlier version than this late 2012 Mac mini in this description, because removing the hard drive is much more complicated than described here. Please see this YouTube video if you have trouble removing your hard drive with these directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... There is a longer process you've got to go through. It can be done, it just takes much longer. (3-4 hours for me)

You might find the two silver screws (along the edge of the grill) will not attach. That's because the hard drive was installed a millimeter or two in the wrong place (or maybe the new hard drive has screw holes offset, in the wrong place). This happened to me. Rather than take it apart (again), I'll just secure the two screws that go into the tabs. No question this will keep things secure enough (just a question if I'll suffer noise or rattle). Extra screws are fun :-)

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It may just be my own experience, but the hard drive connectors appear to be "sensitive" to ANY pressure, even when (re)connected properly. I found that I had to repeatedly re-seat them when re-installing the drive, AirPort antenna, and cowling. I would recommend holding off on putting the screws back for the AirPort antenna and cowling until both are in place, and re-checking the hard drive connectors before installing/tightening those screws.

As UNSC Jon 117 says, these connectors are worryingly prone to pop off if there's any movement of the drives. Fortunately they're accessible even after refitting the antenna plate, so I would wait until then for a last-minute check. I've done this job three times now on the same Mac and everything has been fine.

On my 2012 mac mini, the IR sensor was just soldered to the board--no connector that you could snap out. I have never used the remote with it, so I just let it disconnect. But I did have a few moments of panic while I remembered what the IR was for.

Yes, this is extremely fragile. A couple of the pins on the logic board broke off. They are very tiny pins that are secured to the board surface with solder. I was very careful with it too, but they broke nevertheless. There is no repairing that when it happens. Thus, I have no IR sensor (which I never used) and no front LED (minor loss - not worth the cost of a new logic board). Works fine otherwise.

I also just snapped this off by levering at the wrong point. So this is just for the IR sensor and the flashing light? If so, I'll just ignore it and happily carry on with life without these two features that I never used or noticed! I've been searching for someone who can do the delicate welding to reconnect the 5 pins but if what you say is true I'll stop searching.

Recommend emphasizing even more in the instructions, the potential for disaster!

Also: do not attempt to bend the pins upwards to install, and then bend it back. I broke 3 pins that way.

It easier if you unhook the wires from a couple of tabs on the side attached to the case. That allows more leeway to manipulate the connector. There are two plastic tabs, and the wires are routed between them so that they do not move out of place.

I suggest taking a good close-up photo so you can see how the parts fit together. That's how I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong.

TerribleHacker: "pull it out parallel to the logic board" – no, or at least not on mine. The pins are vertical and the socket has two vertical tongues that fit into grooves on the plug. Vertical is the way to go. In cases like this I use tweezers to pull gently on the wires, and if possible the plug – but the latter is very difficult in this case.

Before attempting to remove the connector, use 5 minute epoxy to glue the wires together. Do this in several small batches and apply with a toothpick, right up to the plastic connector, but not glued to the connector (to risky and not necessary). Be especially careful not to glue to the motherboard. You basically want all 5 wires glued together as if they were a ribbon cable. After the epoxy is cured, pry up from underneath the wires to remove from the motherboard.

I lost my IR sensor and HDD led light as well. Everything was moving along smoothly and I got cocky with the spudger and lifted the connection out of the board. I reassembled with the upgrades and it ran just fine. Like others, I had never used the remote and couldn’t see the HDD light where the mini sat on my desk anyway.

The best way is to first remove the logic board already 0.5 cm out, like discribed in the next steps. Look closely at the wires, they tell you how far you can go! Then take a cotton swab, cut off the cotton ends ending witha plastic stick, bend the end to get it easily under the wires and pull it carefully upwards. The connector then comes off in one piece.

The best way is to first remove the logic board already 0.5 cm out, like discribed in the next steps. Look closely at the wires, they tell you how far you can go! Then take a cotton swab, cut off the cotton ends ending witha plastic stick, bend the end to get it easily under the wires. Take both ends and pull it carefully when it is as close as possible to the connector. The connector then comes off in one piece.

The "yellow screw" depicted in this picture doesn't exist in the Mac Mini late 2012, at least in mine. Well, to be more precise, it exists but was already removed when the fan was unscrewed (it was actually in the fan).

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To remove the logic board, the two cylindrical rods of the Mac mini Logic Board Removal Tool must be inserted into the holes highlighted in red. Inserting instruments into any logic board holes other than the ones highlighted in red may destroy the logic board.

Insert the Mac mini Logic Board Removal Tool into the two holes highlighted in red. Be sure it makes contact with the top side of outer case below the logic board before proceeding.

Carefully pull the tool toward the I/O board. The logic board and I/O board assembly should slightly slide out of the outer case.

Cease prying when the I/O board is visibly separated from the outer case.

On re-assembly, when you're putting the HD back in place, before you've pushed the logic board fully back into place, make sure the disk is in the right place for the antenna plate screw holes (step 8/9) or you'll have problems getting the screws back in. I did, and had to back up a few steps to realign the disk drive!

Look at all of the images. Initially, I took the text literally. I pulled the tool straight back without letting it pivot, and without success. I suggest the following additions: "The tool acts as a lever. Carefully pull the top of the tool down and toward the I/O board. The logic board and I/O board assembly should slightly slide out of the outer case."

If you don't have the removal tool you can just plug an ethernet cable into the I/O port and pull on it to help ease it out...if it's a bit stiff push on the fan duct at the same time...be gentle and it'll release...

I found that there is one step missing for removing the logic board. Once you have the removal tool in and pulling back check to see if you can push in on the taps that are on the outside of the logic board. On the right side if I had known this I would have tried pushing in on the tap and it might have released a little easier. There is not a good photo of the taps but in photo 17 between the pointer and index finger the tap is located on both right and left hands.

Even better, you can just use one of your screwdrivers if you do it carefully, just push out each side a little bit and rock out the logic board. No special tool needed. Just be careful not to damage your logic board and/or apply too much force.

While you can remove this pin with your fingers as shown in the photo, putting back in proved frustrating by hand. I finally got out a forcep which allowed me to grab each side of the plug and push it in at a flat angle.

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In April, I purchased a late 2012 mini (MD387LL/A) - 2.5Ghz i5 with 500MB hard drive.

It looks like Apple now secures the drive to the tray with 3 screws. 2 on back side and one on front. This means the entire drive tray has to come out to remove the drive - it no longer just "lifts out" as in step 18. In order to remove the drive tray, you have to remove the power supply (step 22).

During reassembly, watch the power harness and connector from the power supply when reinserting the logic board assembly into the case. When the board is close enough for the connector to reach, re-attach it before inserting the board the rest of the way. I found that if the connector is lined up properly, it almost attaches itself.

Also, when you're re-assembling (especially with a tight squeeze if you've got dual drives), be sure that the internal AC power connector matches up in profile with the port outline on the rear plate of the main logic board assembly. If the two aren't mated identically, the black port plate won't mate flush with the aluminum case.

Does anyone know if the airport/bt board from a mac mini late 2012 can be retrofitted to the 2011 mini? this would add the airdrop functionality to the older device in theory and I have seen a similar procedure performed on MacBook pro's

I did the same thing, except two caps popped off the board. Perhaps drinking half a fifth of whiskey before starting this project was unwise. Although, if the sucky SATA cable that came with the ifixit kit had worked in the first place, I wouldn't have had to pull the thing apart again to replace it with the OWC cable (which supposedly doesn't suck).

During reassembly, the SD Card reader end of the I/O Bezel will not go back in flat like the AC power connector end, thus the SD Card reader end protrudes about 0.5mm from the edge of the back of the MacMini, I tried took it out and put it back in many times but could not manage to push it all the way in. The truth is it is hard to notice and everything else works fine but it is annoying to see that tiny bit protrusion. Anyone else had this problem? or it was like this already before I took it out? i can't remember what was it like now.....

During this process, I took advantage of having the logic board out, checked the BR2032 battery, which tested nearly dead, and I replaced it with an ECR2032 battery. If you choose to do this, be careful with the moving and replacing of this button battery. There is a wee-little directional arrow on the ( - ) side of the battery holder, which means move the battery without prying towards the positive ( + ) side. One end of the battery then pops up to grab. I also tested the new replacement battery before putting it in. I used an AMPROBE BAT-200 Battery Tester.

If you look closely at the photo for this stage, just up and to the left of where you unplug the power cable, you will see a white wire going into a grey sleeve attached to a grey plastic plug of some description. That’s not what I have. What I have is five wires, two of which (one black, one brown) have tiny copper clips which suggests that they were attached to the logic board. The other three wires (two black, one grey) look like they were torn off and damaged during the removal. I’d post a photo but there doesn’t appear to be the facility for it.

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Symptoms of a failing battery: USB locks up, no input from mouse or keyboard after computer has been idle for a while, but previous screen image either persists or blacks out (except for mouse pointer, at times). Batteries are cheap at most pharmacies, look in the hearing aid battery section, number 2032.

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Be careful to lift the battery out at the angle shown here. You may need to use a spudger to get it started. The little plastic overhang on the left side of the battery clip in this picture is extremely easy to break! And it’s the only thing that holds the battery in place.

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